4th
Sunday of Lent
March 22, 2009
The Message
of Lent Has Consequences *
by Paul Rooney
John
3:14-21
Our
entire Lenten journey is an effort on our part to come closer to God, to come into the Light of Christ, and to repent
of any wrongdoing. In our First
Reading, we hear of the unfaithfulness of both the Jewish religious leaders and
the people, who were living out the evil behavior referred to as
darkness. That had consequences, and the Judean folks were forced into many years of Exile. Jesus tells us in the Gospel today that once
again, 600 years later, people are living in darkness and wickedness. To use His own words: Everyone who practices evil hates the light; he does not come near it
for fear his deeds will be exposed. But
he who acts in truth comes into the light, to make clear that his deeds are
done in God (Jn 3:20-21).
When we
come to worship, we hold in our memories many, many saints, living and dead,
canonized or not, who are examples to us of how we can come closer to God. They
witness to us about how God loves us, and how we can live out our faith. But theres one additional person that we
all mention at least once a week, who is an example to us for all the wrong
reasons.
When we
recite the Creed every Sunday, we speak specifically about five Persons: our
Father almighty; Jesus Christ our Lord;
the Holy Spirit; and finally, the Blessed Virgin Mary. But then we name a fifth person someone whos had a permanent place on the lips of
Christians for over 2000 years! Do you
know who it is?
What if
I said: suffered under
Or, crucified under
Then you would know who
I meant! Pontius Pilate! We say his
name every week. But what do we know
about him? What can we learn from his
behavior?
We do
know that Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judaea from 26 AD to 36
AD. But Judaea was such an unimportant
province, that no one really sought the position. So the Judean governors
belonged to the second level of the Roman elite; they had to content themselves
with the military title of 'Prefect.'
Like all
members of the Pontius family, Pilate belonged to this second level of high
society. Secular historians recorded
that about 36 A.D., Pilate's cavalry
ruthlessly slaughtered thousands of
Samaritan pilgrims, which led to such a strong Palestinian protest that Pilate
was eventually recalled to Rome. He was
relieved of his command and exiled to Gaul.
Of course, pagans in the Roman Military who were in visible society but
had suffered defeat and public disgrace, always despaired, and as only the
Roman Military did, committed suicide.
Just like Pontius Pilate.
Pilate
is only mentioned in The Bible regarding his involvement in The Crucifixion.
But every single Sunday since our Creed became Dogma almost 1,700 years ago,
the name of Pontius Pilate, and especially his dishonor, have been publicly
remembered.
Nearly
2000 years ago, Jesus told this representative of the Roman Empire that he,
Jesus, had been born to Bear witness to the truth. And Pilates response was:
What is Truth? The truth was standing right in front of
him, but he did not want to act upon it, even though he knew that Jesus was
innocent.
Today
all of us, and all of those in public authority, must answer the same question!
If we dont, or if we answer like
Pilate did, we will be exactly like him, living under rules and conducting our
lives as if expediency or political compromise against moral principles
were the only things that mattered. We
might be tempted to say, Come on, lets
get this over with. Lets move on and
forget it. And just
like Pilate, WE will then be responsible
for shedding innocent blood!
Today
were witnessing politicians who claim to be followers of Christ, giving in
to the destruction of millions of Gods children, either through abortion, or
through embryonic stem cell
research. They vote as if to say: Who knows what is Truth? They may claim that they are personally
opposed, but just like Pontius Pilate they think it is more important to
appease the majority. Just like Pilate
did!
At the
same time, Sunday after Sunday, after remembering Pilates crime in the words
of our Creed, they still have the blasphemous
audacity to take upon their lips the Body and Blood of the innocent One
whom Pilate had crucified that Good Friday!
Pilate
washed his hands after sentencing Jesus to death, hoping it would excuse his
own responsibility for Jesus death. Sacrificing an occasional innocent person was what a political
opportunist did, taking the appeasement route to keep the majority happy.
And what
can we say for those who vote for and support such callous politicians? Are they not voting as if to say, What is truth? But our citizens today DO have choices. Just like Pilate had a choice. And the choices of our citizens DO have consequences.
Just like Pilates decision had consequences.
Jesus solemnly warns us in todays Gospel about loving darkness rather
than light. We have been solemnly
warned that judgment will follow. A vote
in our society has value, and it has consequences!
If we
have not merely failed to do good by not voting at all (which is bad enough),
but have voted for pro-abortion candidates who contribute to such evil (when
there is a clear alternative) then it may be the time to reevaluate whether
or not we really are coming closer to God on this Lenten
journey! We all know that there is
such a thing as objective truth.
We do
Not want to become a Pontius Pilate, and try to wash our hands of our
responsibilities. Instead, we want to seek
the Truth and repent, as we are all called to do. This is how we come closer
to God on our journey the only consequence that matters! (+)
Mary Our
Queen Parish, Omaha
------------------------
* This homily is hugely indebted to Deacon Tim Killmeyer, Diocese
of Pittsburgh. I have used his idea
with permission, and many of his words.
You can visit his website at www.catholicdeacon.net.